25 reasons and tips for seeing the Virginia International Tattoo’s 25th anniversary show

NORFOLK — It’s a superb factor the Virginia Worldwide Tattoo, one of many showstoppers of the Virginia Arts Pageant, is returning to Scope.

It was canceled in 2020. Then condensed and held final 12 months within the open air of a soccer stadium. The twenty fifth anniversary tattoo present returns to its authentic stomping floor this week with sufficient worldwide bands, bagpipes, bugles, Hooahs! Hooyahs! Oorahs!, drumming, dancing, anthems, tartan and bearskin hats to fill an enviornment.

Organizers have aptly known as it “A Celebration of Resilience.”

The tattoo runs April 28 via Might 1 and brings with it a number of of the traditions that followers have missed the previous two years: the Hullabaloos, free events earlier than every present within the Scope Plaza; the NATO Parade of Nations and American Pipe Band Championship on April 30.

Listed here are 25 must-sees, fascinating tidbits and insider ideas for the VIT:

1. Inquisitive about what a tattoo is? The title goes again 400-odd years to Belgium and the Netherlands. When the troopers went out partying, a army drummer marched via city, enjoying “doe den faucet toe,” (which implies “Flip off the faucets” in Dutch) as a nudge to barkeeps. The title was finally shortened and have become linked to large shows of army pageantry, which at the moment are held around the globe.

2. The Virginia Worldwide Tattoo has by no means been late. Not even a second. The present requires greater than 1 million musical notes, 100 channels of audio, 500 lighting fixtures, and 50,000 discrete sound, lighting and staging cues. The world opens an hour earlier than every occasion and a big, digital clock begins the countdown. When the clock hits 0.00, the present begins.

3. The present could have seven drum majors, together with Grasp Sergeant Stacie Crowther, the primary feminine senior drum main of any tattoo on the earth.

4. Organizers know the present will pull in returnees however they like to boost the extravaganza every year with new components. Regulars can depend on iconic moments, such because the Marine Corps reenactment of the Iwo Jima flag elevating. This 12 months, there will likely be … oh, you already know we’re not giving it away, proper?

5. All proper, all proper. We’ll supply this recent crumb: The normal lone piper will likely be Pipe Main Ross McCrindle, a senior bagpiper at Britain’s Military College of Bagpipe Music and Highland Drumming. He has composed a singular lament for this 12 months’s program.

6. Tidewater Pipes and Drums will likely be carrying the official Tattoo “Hixon” Tartan. The material is called for a former arts competition board chair, James Hixon. It was designed in Scotland and loomed by R.G. Hardie & Co. of Glasgow. The tartan consists of the “Pageant Blue” of the VAF, and the purple, white and blue threads symbolize patriotism. Grey stripes characterize the battleship hue of Navy ships and jets, and different blues stand for the state flag and Norfolk seal. The material is offered for buy.

7. The nationwide anthem efficiency is a singular association particular to the tattoo. It consists of Navy, Military, Air Power and Marine soloists and instrumentalists.

8. The Marine Corps FAST Firm and its impediment course state of affairs — a fan favourite — returns after a three-year hiatus. (That’s “FAST” for Fleet Antiterrorism Safety Staff.)

9. The present has 19 scenes which can be seamlessly choreographed and transitioned all through the efficiency.

10. One other addition: The debut of the Virginia Worldwide Tattoo Highland Dance Firm, which was created for the occasion and is led by Aileen Robertson, a world-champion highland dance teacher in Scotland. The group consists of 32 dancers from the U.S., Canada, the UK and Brazil. Robertson first served as a choreographer for the tattoo in 2006.

11. 4 teams that performed on the first tattoo in 1997 are performing: the Military’s Outdated Guard Fife and Drum Corps, the U.S. Coast Guard Silent Drill staff, the US Fleet Forces Band (which was known as the Atlantic Fleet Band again then) and the Military’s TRADOC Band (recognized in 1997 because the Continental Military Band).

12. Every of the U.S. army bands will carry out a Sousa piece, as in John Philip Sousa, the granddaddy of army marches. Sousa (1854 to 1932) performed “The President’s Personal” Marine band underneath Presidents Hayes, Garfield, Arthur, Cleveland and Harrison. He retired in 1892 to create a civilian live performance band. When the primary World Conflict erupted, he joined the reserves to coach musicians and donated all however $1 of his pay to army aid funds.

13. The Pipes and Drums of the Highlanders, 4th Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland will likely be a spotlight of the present. It is among the world’s most historic pipe bands and Pipe Main Shade Sergeant Peter Grant served because the lone piper on the funeral of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, in 2021.

14. In commemoration of the Kingdom of Jordan’s a hundredth anniversary final 12 months, the Jordanian Armed Forces Band and the Jordanian Armed Forces Pipes and Drums will carry out. The band had solely 10 members when it and the dominion had been established in 1921. Now, greater than 50 performers are coming to Norfolk, enjoying in two distinct teams.

15. The present all the time options the enjoying of “Faucets,” and the distinction is rotated among the many service branches. It’s the Air Power’s flip this 12 months.

16. Every present requires 75 individuals working behind the scenes.

17. One other fan fave is the singing of “The Parting Glass,” a standard Scottish music that indicators the top of a gathering of family members. Supposedly, it ranks second solely to a different Scottish sendoff, “Auld Lang Syne.” This 12 months it is going to be carried out by Dougie Anderson, a Celtic singer and Royal Regiment of Scotland veteran, and Seán Heely, a winner of the U.S. Nationwide Scottish Fiddle Championships. A ceremonial toast will likely be given with the Scottish cup of friendship, a quaich.

18. The “Particular Viewers Night time” is April 26, a costume rehearsal open, at no cost, to individuals with particular wants and their households. The custom started in 2011 after tattoo producer and director Scott Jackson and his spouse began taking their autistic daughter to the costume rehearsals and wished to share the expertise with others. Contact the competition workplaces for vouchers at data@vafest.org or 757-282-2800.

19. Facet word: Jackson has performed a job in every tattoo, first as a performer in 1997.

20. Army service songs are sung at each present, and viewers members of the respective branches are invited to face and take part. Army protocol calls for enjoying them in a particular order, normally ending with the Military. Since Hampton Roads is taken into account a Navy city, “Anchors Aweigh” is sung final.

21. Three units of siblings will likely be within the present: Two members of the Outdated Guard Fife and Drum Corps, two highland dancers and Pipe Main Peter Grant (see Motive 13) and his brother, Drum Main Sergeant Ruaridh Grant. They’re the primary sibs to carry the posts of pipe main and drum main within the historical past of the Royal Regiment of Scotland.

22. The present was 2 1/2 hours with a 30-minute intermission. Organizers dropped the break and made this system a extra intense two-hour expertise. They stated, in an announcement, “Consider your favourite film. Would you actually need to cease within the center?”

23. The biking band of the Netherlands is again. It hearkens again to when the Dutch cavalry rode bikes throughout wartime. Tattoo regulars know that its scene is extra about comedy and distinctive, skilled musicianship.

24. Tattoos are meant to be over-the-top occasions meant for crowds of hundreds. Organizers began utilizing video screens a number of years in the past so that everybody within the viewers may see the performers shut up and will see the present properly. The screens additionally add to the atmosphere of the present being a spectacle.

25. Talking of huge, the mic-dropping finale begins with “Parade of the Charioteers,” from the epic movie, “Ben Hur.” The entire performers march in, the drum main delivers a ceremonial “Roll Name,” and a senior official accepts a salute as soon as all of the forged is accounted for. It goes again to the traditions of the primary tattoos.

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When: 7:30 p.m. April 28 via 30; 2:30 p.m. May1.

The place: Scope, 201 E. Brambleton Ave., Norfolk

Tickets: Begin at $10.

Particulars: vafest.org or 757-282-2800